'Storm Eye is world-class,' says cataract patient who used to go out of state for care

Bart McLean was enjoying a slower pace in Charleston after a career in the private investment business in Atlanta. “I had sort of a gradual retirement that took place over the last several years,” he said.

But right as he was settling into a time focused on friends and family, his eyesight started to fail. “My cataracts had gotten pretty bad in a pretty short period of time, and so I was at a point where my vision was just not good at all. I didn't feel comfortable driving a car at night, that sort of thing.”

In the past, McLean went out of state for eye care. But he’d become involved with the MUSC Health Storm Eye Institute through a friend, serving on its advisory board. “Storm has a phenomenal reputation that's not necessarily widely known. It's a world-class organization with very, very high-quality people throughout.”

 

So when it was time for cataract surgery, McLean chose to stay in Charleston. “Like most people, I've tried to do my own homework on the front end and understand what cataract surgery was about and any risks that I should be aware of. I did all that and became very comfortable with Storm Eye and Dr. Rocha, in particular, to be responsible for my care.”

Karolinne Rocha, M.D., Ph.D., specializes in cataract, cornea and refractive surgery. She directs the Cornea and Refractive Surgery Division at the Storm Eye Institute. She and her team handle more than a dozen cataract and other procedures a day. High volume is a plus. It means the team has a lot of experience, which is linked to better outcomes for patients.

Rocha said almost everyone gets cataracts at some point. “Cataract is the aging of the crystalline lens. There's the clouding of the eyes, the natural lens, that can start blocking the light or can cause some distortion of the light.”

As McLean experienced, cataracts can cause problems with night vision. But Rocha said they may do more than that. “Sensitivity to light and the colors, they're usually not as vivid as before. And also, frequent changes in glasses prescriptions are another sign when you're developing an age-related cataract.”

But age isn’t the only cause of cataracts. Some babies are born with them and need early surgery. Other causes of cataracts include eye injuries, diabetes and the long-term use of steroids.

“The treatment for cataracts is surgery. The modern surgery is usually mostly microincision, and there are ways that we can break and remove the cataracts. We can do laser cataract surgery for cuts that are very precise,” Rocha said.

“And there are different options for correction. When we remove the cataract for patients to be able to see, we need to implant a lens we call an intraocular lens.”

She said it’s important for people to know there are different types of correction with cataract surgery. “We can correct for far vision only, and if we do far vision patients, they still need reading glasses. There are also lenses that can correct for astigmatism. With astigmatism, the eye has a football shape instead of a soccer ball shape. And we can correct astigmatism with a special lens we call a toric intraocular lens or with laser incisions.”

For people who don’t want to wear reading glasses after surgery, Rocha said, there’s another option. “If they're good candidates, we can offer presbyopia-correcting lenses or those special lenses that we call full-vision range lenses that help with distance and close-up vision. Those are specialized implants.”

Rocha said technology allows Storm Eye to tailor those treatments to patients’ needs. “We have all different types of lens implants from different manufacturers. We decide which one of the implants will be the best for that patient specifically.We also have imaging devices that will measure the entire eye and that will tell us the exact power of the lens that goes inside the eye. We want that to be precise.”

McLean, who had his cataract surgery in the spring, said the improvement in his vision was immediate. “I was able to drive at night again. Just overall, everything you think about with your eyesight was better. Everything from watching a football game to being able to read the scoreboard on a TV, which I couldn't do before surgery. Reading a menu. You name it. Eyesight comes into play everywhere you turn.”

His experiences at Storm Eye have led him and his wife, Cindy, to make the Storm Eye Institute part of their philanthropy. “If you think about what's involved in eyecare, it's very specialized equipment, and there are always advances that are being made. And so, being able to remain cutting-edge, it's important to have the resources to invest in the right people and equipment,” McLean said.

"That's the reason our philanthropy is heavily focused on health care in general, and Storm in particular. It’s essential to remain cutting-edge and help people in the best way possible."